oxygenation of water using nanobubbles
Published on by Water Network Research, Official research team of The Water Network for NanobOx
John Favier, NanobOx
University College Dublin Spin-out wins 'One to Watch Award' at Enterprise Ireland's 2022 Big Ideas Showcase
NanobOx, a University College Dublin (UCD) spin-out company supported by NovaUCD, was presented with the ‘One to Watch Award’ at Enterprise Ireland’s Big Ideas 2022 showcase event. Now in its 14th year, Enterprise Ireland held the 2022 Big Ideas pitch event Nov 25 was in front of a live audience in Croke Park, Dublin as well as a virtual audience online.
NanobOx was one of 12 investor-ready start-ups to pitch their new technology solutions to investors at the annual showcase of start-up innovation emerging from higher education institutes. The Big Ideas pitch teams were competing for the ‘One to Watch Award’, which was decided by a judging panel.
NanobOx, which is developing a highly energy-efficient technology to oxygenate water using nanobubbles, was pitched by Dr John Favier. Dr Favier, a serial entrepreneur and company CEO, founded NanobOx along with Dr Mohammad Ghaani. The technology was invented by Dr Ghaani and Professor Niall English at the UCD School of Chemical and Bioprocessing Engineering.
Dr John Favier, CEO, and co-founder, NanobOx said, "We are delighted to win the Big Ideas 2022 One to Watch Award. We are excited to bring to market the ground-breaking, ultra-low energy cost nanobubble generation technology developed at UCD that we believe will accelerate the use of nanobubbles in Aquaculture and Agriculture and other bio-systems.”
Many commercial bioprocesses require oxygen levels in process waters to be consistently maintained. This can be a significant operating cost for a process that can be critical to productivity. In aquaculture, or the farming of fish stocks, for example, the energy cost of oxygenation can be the second highest expense after feed. It can represent 60pc to 70pc of operating costs in biological wastewater treatment.
Generating nanobubbles is particularly energy intensive, but with novel, patented technology NanobOx has managed to reduce the energy required to do so. Its nanobubble generators can be solar or battery-powered, and with no moving parts they are easy to clean and maintain. The company claims its technology is highly scalable and can oxygenate water at high flowrates.
Tom Flanagan, Director for Enterprise and Commercialisation, NovaUCD said, “I am delighted that NanobOx, a UCD spin-out company, was named winner of the ‘One to Watch’ Award at Enterprise Ireland’s 2022 Big Ideas event, from a very impressive field of participating start-ups. I would like to congratulate John Favier on his outstanding pitch and we look forward to continue working with the company as it grows and scales to meet its global ambitions.”
Dr John Favier, co-founder and CEO, NanobOx; Marina Donohoe, Incoming Divisional Manager Research and Innovation, Enterprise Ireland, Dr Mohammad Ghaani, Co-Founder of NanobOx and Tom Flanagan, Director of Enterprise and Commercialisation, NovaUCD
Highly energy efficient technology for oxygenation of water using nanobubbles.
What problem are you solving and what is innovative about your approach?
Maintaining levels of dissolved oxygen in process waters is a significant operating cost and is critical to productivity in many commercial bio-processes including controlled environment crop cultivation, aquaculture, wastewater treatment, bio-reactors, fermentation and more. Oxygen is typically dissolved in water using air bubbles of micron size or larger generated mechanically or using high pressure diffusers that have an oxygen transfer efficiency of only 2-3%. In contrast, nanosized (10-9m diameter) bubbles have a transfer efficiency of 85% or more. However, current methods of generating nanobubbles are highly energy intensive which has limited their use in many industrial processes despite their known benefits.
Using a novel, patented technology, NanobOx have reduced by an order of magnitude the energy required to generate nanobubbles in water. When the nanobubbles are generated from air they are uniquely oxygen-enriched, acting as a long lasting ‘oxygen battery’. Our nanobubble generators can be powered by a solar cell or a battery and have no moving parts so are easy to clean and maintain. The technology is highly scalable and can oxygenate water at high flowrates. It can also uniquely be operated under water and can be retrofitted to existing diffusion aeration equipment to enhance efficiency.
How is this idea commercially attractive?
Wild fish stocks continue to decline and over 50% of fish consumed globally is now produced using aquaculture; forecast to increase to 70% by 2030. The energy cost of oxygenation in aquaculture is the second highest expense after feed. NanobOx will drive down the cost of oxygenation in aquaculture which represents a €2.5 billion market opportunity.
Over 1 million ha of crops globally are cultivated in a controlled environment and the Controlled Environment Agriculture Technology market is valued at €40 billion. Use of NanobOx technology will deliver higher yields, and will enable low fertiliser inputs and use of chemicals for cleaning and suppression of harmful algae and pathogens. The immediately serviceable opportunity is valued at €0.5 billion expanding to €5+ billion including outdoor crop irrigation.
Aeration is 60%-70% of OPEX in biological wastewater treatment (WWT) used worldwide in Municipal, Industrial and Agricultural WWT and WWT Aeration Systems is a €20 billion market. For example, the cost of aeration for a municipal WWT plant servicing 50,000 people is of the order of €300,000 p.a. Use of NanobOx technology has the potential to bring significant savings in the energy cost of aeration for WWT.
What do you hope to achieve by participating in Big Ideas?
We are closing our first investment round that will fund our engagement with prospective customers and strategic partners to further validate our value proposition and go-to-market. Big Ideas provides a great opportunity to showcase our technology to prospective partners and customers and engage with potential strategic investors in advance of our next funding round.
Information
- Location: Dublin, Ireland
Taxonomy
- Nano Bubbles